The Secret To The North
by CarlaKitten21
Summary: Annabeth and Percy are visiting Percy's relatives in near Hudson Bay, Canada, and it seems they've stumbled upon something that Chiron didn't want them to know... Told through Annabeth's point of view.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

It wasn't my fault.

Seriously, if we hadn't been visiting Percy's family in Quebec it would _never_ have happened. So, yes, I had the map, got us lost, and that kind of eventually started a war between Gods - a totally different war - but it _wasn't my fault_. It wasn't a conscious decision or anything, it just... happened. It's too late now. I can't take it back and I, Annabeth Chase, have to live with the memory. But it can't be my fault. Because if it is, how am I supposed to live with myself? Knowing that I almost destroyed the home of my new friends, and sparked the war that lost them their family and friends? I couldn't... I couldn't... I _can't..._


	2. Chapter One - The alley

"No, I've told you Percy, it's this way!" I sighed with exasperation. Percy just grinned sheepishly at me.

"Sorry. I've never been to Canada before. It's a bit confusing." I rolled my eyes at him, but I couldn't hide my smile.

"Give it here Seaweed Brain." I said, grabbing the map from him. I studied it for a moment, then rolled it up and marched forward confidently. Percy ran to catch up with me, and we fell into step beside each other.

"So." I said "Remind me why we're here again?"

"Sure thing, Wise Girl. My Mum's cousin lives out here."

"And we are visiting, why?"

"Because family is important Annabeth! She has two small children and, um, I have to get to know them!" I suspected Percy was just parroting something his Mum had told him. Sally was into that sort if stuff, whereas Percy...

"Take a left here Percy." I said, suddenly coming to my senses. Percy and I turned and I felt a shiver go down my spine, for no apparent reason. Looking at Percy, I saw he'd just felt it too. I wasn't feeling any more optimistic when I saw where I'd landed us. We were in a dark alleyway, the sun being almost completely blocked out by tall, run down buildings either side of us, which were shrouded in shadow. Back on the main street, it had been sunny, even warm, but here it was cold. I took a few steps forward, until I was in the middle of the alley.

"Annabeth!" called Percy "Lets go. They clearly don't live down here." I nodded, but suddenly a noise from the fire escape above me to the left made me look up. Percy must have heard it too because he was by my side in an instant.

"Is anyone there?" I called, at the same time as mentally scolding myself for being paranoid. It was probably just a stray cat or something. Then I heard mocking laughter from above, and a boy's voice.

"Look at her blubber! Is the little girlie lost? Should someone fetch the baby's dummy?" I screamed and jumped at Percy in fright. There was more laughter, and now a girl's voice rang out, clear and unmistakably gleeful.

"The baby needs her comfort blanket!"

Another voice, another girl, answered this time. "Yeah, but it's a boy, not a blanket, dumbo."

A third girl piped up suddenly. "Ooh, is that her boyfriend? He's quite good looking, isn't he?"

Percy disentangled himself from me and yelled at the sky. "Who are you? What do you want?"

I looked around at the fire escape. It formed a square in which we were stood perfectly in the middle of. A section of it crossed over the alley. The whole thing was a story up, and pitch black.

"Dear, dear, the boyfriend's not happy, is he?" giggled the second girl.

"Well, how can he, if he has that idiot as a girlfriend?" replied the third girl.

"I am not stupid!" I yelled angrily.

"Oh yeah?" asked the boy sneeringly, from my right. From my right... Then it hit me. They were switching places, walking round on the fire escape so we had less chance of tracking their voices. Clever.

"Percy." I whispered. I thought I was being quiet, but four voices immediately whispered loudly "Percy" right back at me, so I was forced to give that plan up.

"I don't think you know who your dealing with!" yelled Percy, trying to sound brave, but I could hear the anxiety in his voice.

"Don't we?" replied the boy, casually. Percy faced where the boy's voice had last come from, and drew Riptide.

There was a collective gasp from the four people above us. Percy looked momentarily puzzled.

"Wait. You can see the sword?" he asked.

"Obviously they can Seaweed Brain." I said. "They just gasped."

"Who are you?" asked the third girl in awe.

"I am - " but Percy was cut short, almost literally, as a knife came flying out of the darkness, and embedded itself in the ground between Percy's feet.

"Now each of us know exactly who we're dealing with." came the boy's voice. "We have you surrounded, and outnumbered, so face it, you lost."

"Not quite." I grinned. "Percy, NOW!" Percy threw riptide and it slashed the ropes above where I knew the boy was standing the fire escape collapsed and there was a cry as somebody invisible fell and landed in a heap of rubbish lining the wall of the alleyway. A boy materialised in front of us sprawled across empty cardboard boxes, swearing loudly. He had dark messy hair and bright green eyes. He looked about thirteen or fourteen, but his vocabulary was considerably advanced. He wore a blue T-shirt that bore the slogan "I fought the law". But the thing that struck me as odd the most was the fact that in his jeans pocket, there was a knife, the exact same one as had been in the ground just moments ago between Percy's feet. Percy planted his foot on the boy's chest and pointed Riptide at his throat.

"Who are you?" he asked, with careful and deliberate emphasis on each word.

"I don't need to tell _you_." replied the boy angrily. "Gods, I'm in enough trouble as it is without - " I interrupted him, knocking aside Percy's sword.

"Wait. You said _Gods._ Not God, as in singular, but _Gods,_ plural." He gave me an uneasy grin.

"I'm, um, I'm - "

"Idiot." sang a voice from the other side of the alley. It was a girl. I recognised the voice of that of the first girl who spoke. She had dark skin, and even darker hair, which was incredibly frizzy and seemed to just grow out of her head in any way it liked. Her skin and hair were in great contrast to her bright red T-shirt and white shorts.

"That's my sister, Lola." sighed the boy, struggling to push himself up with his elbows.

"Yes, and that's my complete dunce of a brother, Rick." moaned Lola.

"You don't look like each other." I queried.

"There speaks a true genius. " smirked Rick, accepting Lola's hand as she pulled him up from under Percy's foot. Percy stumbled backwards, but he didn't turn Riptide back into a pen.

"Are you only, like, half siblings or something?" he asked, cautiously. Rick and Lola both nodded. My mind was racing. The knife, the materialising, the use of the expression Gods, now this? Suddenly it all clicked into place.

"You're demigods!" I breathed.


End file.
